Ours
by Seggy
Summary: Their people and their world will remain. They will fight for every life and every speck of dust. For the Spirals, the world will spin on.


_The small floating rat head giggled as it beheld the wrecked landscape, grinning down at the small pink-haired girl sitting on a mound. They were atop a small hill in the outskirts of the last battlefield where Lordgenome's forces fought._

"I saw what happened here. Your people are... talented. Say... do you want to... join them? I can give you the power." Its deranged smile stretched as the girl grinned back, her eyes widening in excitement.

"I can be strong like Dai Gurren-dan? You'll give me a Ganmen like Gurren-Lagann?"

"Yes, Darry. Something even better."

Blinking owlishly at the great white void, only broken by the simple wooden chair in front of her, Darry shrugged and took a seat before peering at her new friend, Koyemshi. The permanently-grinning face of a rat simply floated in circles around her for a few seconds before speaking.

"Here we are, Darry. Your own... Ganmen, if you'd like. It's stronger than Gurren-Lagann or anything else in its class. In this you are invincible. But in return, I'd like you to join me in a little game." Hovering in front of her face, Koyemshi spun as its last words were said.

"What kinda game?" The little girl's eyes twinkled merrily and in curiosity. "Like, like hopscotch with the other Ganmen?"

"No, it's something much bigger. Do you think your friends are cool when they fight against the bad guys? They must look so amazing, right? In their giant robots, fighting for _you_ and all the people you know. This game... involves you being just as amazing. It's going to be _great fun_."

"Wow, that's awesome!" Koyemshi hovered around Darry's head as she bounced with excitement.

"Grab the armrests, Darry. Close your eyes. Think of how great you'll be!" And she did.

In the outside world, away from the endless inner void where the two were, Dai Gurren-dan celebrated. Teppelin lay in ruins, its remnants in the great Ganmen that had held them off until the last second smoking. Kittan and Simon were the big heroes of the day, celebrating with the shattered forces that had taken down the Spiral King's empire, reconquered the surface in humanity's name.

Nia and Simon stood atop Dai-Gurren, the broken form of Lagann serenely sitting beside the two as they watched the masses cheering below. The great battleship was a shade of the force of nature that had torn Teppelin's hammer apart with its bladed hull, its prow missing and its guns partly melted from the strain of the battle.

Kittan and Kiyal happily paraded through the crowds underneath, the blond man dragging his sister through the gaggle of humanity with rumbling laughter. The two teens far above watched without a word, content in their silence as they stood together.

"We won, Nia! It's over, we can relax... no more fighting, no more pain." Simon smiled in relief, looking at the girl's face. She giggled, closing her eyes as she basked in the atmosphere. "I wish bro were here to see all we achieved. The stars twinkled merrily far above, and he guided his eyes upwards. "He always wanted to be the winner at everything. I guess I did that in his place, now that he's gone."

"I never met him... but I think he did in a way." Nia's eyes roved the stars above aimlessly. "You said he lived on in you. You won, he did too."

Underneath, the bridge of Dai-Gurren was vibrant with happiness and relief, even if its occupants were more solemn than those on the ground. Yoko quietly cleaned her rifle, the myriad of parts shining under the bright command center's lights as Dayakka reassembled the cleaned sections. The two old friends watched the commotion around themselves as Gimmy looked for Darry, tripping over rubble and stumbling around cutely, eliciting chuckles from the crew still inside.

Leite and Leeron trod inside the room, the blonde woman immediately sitting by a console and pulling out a microphone. Leeron stood beside her, grabbing his chin as he thought deeply.

The celebration stopped as Leite's voice washed over the congregation, tinged with worry. "All pilots, return to Ganmen. There's something else. We don't know what it is nor what its intentions are, but this monster is as big as a battleship. I repeat, everyone, gear up."

Yoko reached into Dayakka's personal space and grabbed her gun, reassembling the weapon he'd been leisurely putting together for minutes in mere seconds as she stood. A confused Nia was dumped into the room from a window, and the bright green light of Lagann's engine grew dimmer from the zenith that had blinded them all for a moment.

"Rossiu!" Simon's cry rang into the battleship as a cacophony of noise sounded across the plain, Ganmen powering up throughout the battlefield as pilots once more braced for battle.

From behind Teppelin's broken form, a gargantuan avian shape slowly hovered into sight, rows of dark spikes protruding at odd intervals from its back, contrasting with its alabaster body.

Within, Darry giggled and clapped her hands in glee, watching Dai Gurren-dan's ant-sized Ganmen scurrying around underneath.

"Speak, Darry. They will hear, and they'll be so amazed!" Koyemshi prodded, twirling in the air.

"Hihihihi!" Her high-pitched voice exploded from the creature's top, where its spikes ended. "Guys, don't I look awesome in my-" Her 'Ganmen' was knocked down by a falling shape as large as itself, limply collapsing onto one of Teppelin's feet. Darry screamed at the unexpected impact, toppling off of her chair.

"That, Darry, is part of our game!" Koyemshi giggled. The four-legged monster stomped one of its legs through the 'Ganmen's' left wing, eliciting a shriek from the girl. "It may not always be pleasant, but don't you think it's fun?"

--__--

The masses of Dai Gurren-dan were silent. Simon was in their midst, on his knees as he tried to shake one of their own into wakefulness. His fallen ally was unresponsive, her small body doing nothing but flop pathetically in response to his frantic movement.

"She won... she should be alright! Why isn't she waking up!?" A tuft of orange hair blocked Simon's vision as Gimmy leaned over the girl, hugging her in distress. "Come on, stop playing around!"

"Gimmy... it won't work." Kittan's voice was solemn as he reached over, pushing Gimmy away from the body with one strong arm as long as the boy was tall. "Darry is gone."

"But why!?" The boy cried in anguish, trying to push past the offending limb to get to the girl again. "She won! She beat that monster! She was losing but then she was like Simon and she beat it! Darry's gotta be alive! She's gotta!"

"She's not." Simon shook his head sadly, reaching over and closing the girl's glassy eyes, looking away from the corpse's relieved smile. He grimaced as he stood, looking at gleefully-twinkling stars before closing his eyes in despair. "Nothing can change that, Gimmy."

"Can't you..." Gimmy clenched his fists, angrily wiping away the tears that were making their way down his face. "I guess there's nothing we can do, right?" His voice broke slightly, but he stood strong. "Spiral Power didn't do anything for Kamina, it can't do anything for Darry, right?"

"... right." Simon sighed, opening his eyes to look over Dai Gurren-dan. Instead, he was presented with a large disembodied head grinning derangement at him. The boy screamed and threw himself back, falling to the ground in a heap.

"Indeed, there's nothing you can do." Koyemshi lazily floated around Simon's head, popping out of existence as a flash of blue exploded through his previous location. Yoko fell to the ground, clutching her chest as he reappeared above her. "Now, now, play nice. I'm on your side here," he chided as he noted the dozens of assorted weapons being pointed at him by the brigade.

"What are you?" Kittan pulled Simon to his feet, signaling for a few men to help Yoko up as he hefted a weapon taken from a dead Beastman in Koyemshi's direction.

"What I am needn't be discussed. What you need to know, is that I'm your ally. You can call me Koyemshi. I brought that cute plaything here." Koyemshi's large grin was unchanging as it slowly rose and looked at the large white 'Ganmen' that Darry had handled. It floated motionlessly above its fallen opponent, long needles still dripping with the acid that had torn through the opposing mecha. "She did rather well, for a little girl. It's truly a shame that pilots are bound to die after battle, though." He swiveled for a second, as if he were shaking his head, before zooming towards Kittan and Simon, both of whom were shaking in anger.

"You brought it here, and it kills people?" Kittan ground out, grasping the gray shooting device furiously as he continued pointing it at Koyemshi's face. "You gave a little girl command of a giant robot that kills its pilots?"

"It's not really a giant robot, you see... nor is it needless. That giant creature that showed up to oppose the girl? That was the first of fifteen. The stakes are high in this game, and her death was bound to happen eventually. Whether she won or lost, she would have died. Had she lost, so would you." Koyemshi did a barrel roll as he explained tonelessly. "I'm not here to give you closure, however. Should one of your pilots lose a fight, should they die in combat against their opponent, this universe, and every one of its occupants will die. Including me, so I'll say it's within my best interests as well as yours to listen out."

"Game... the universe being wiped out?" Simon struggled to understand. "What the hell does that have to do with us? What have we done for this?"

"Oh, nothing. This universe is just another insignificant piece of the everything, and this game is just to shave down the numbers. It's nothing personal. But, let's not dally around. This game is not over until we lose, or win fifteen times. That is why I need fourteen of you, of anyone, willing to fight against other players. For our continued existence, really. Nothing personal."

"And you want us to give up our people to die against these things?" Kittan growled, putting down his weapon and staring down the impassively-smiling face. "Screw that, we don't need your stupid giant robot. These things are big and powerful, but we've beaten worse odds before! We're Dai Gurren-dan, and we'll succeed against all fifteen of these assholes! And if more come, let 'em! We'll fight them off! We won the surface, we'll win our universe!" Kittan's bellow was taken up by the entire brigade, the roar of defiance washing over the countryside.

"Very well, if you'll be like that... I'll be here, whenever you decide to try and win. Goodbye~" Koyemshi disappeared with a pop.

--__--

Zearth's dark shape stood imposing in the middle of a plain, seeming to peer down at its opponent. The white shape was familiar, laid out on the ground as if it were trash. Akira, the newscaster, blinked at the display as he filmed. "That... I remember that thing! It's Idol! My daughter died fighting that thing!"

Sasami put a hand on his shoulder, quieting the man down with a glare. "I believe there are more important things to be considered."

Surrounding Zearth were legions of mechanized forces. Mechas of every shape and form filled the area, and in front of Zearth and the discarded Idol stood one that was its size seemingly one-hundredfold. Teppelin stood imposingly, half-destroyed but ready to fight. Its shattered hammer was raised, and atop it stood a small red form.

Gurren-Lagann bellowed to its enemy, its shades smashed and its helm missing. "That piece of shit? We don't need it! That death machine took Darry, and we beat thirteen of you bastards without it! You think we'll sacrifice our allies just to pilot that thing? _Who the hell do you think we are!?_"****

Bokurano kids never get it easy. Nor does Gurren-dan. One always rises above these troubles. The other, not really. I may add some closure, but maybe not.


End file.
